Six of the best games from Atari 50

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration has a whole heap of games in it, which may well have you wondering how many of them are actually worth playing — particularly as some modern gamers find it pretty tough to get on board with very early titles.

Fear not! For we are here to point you in the direction of six of the best games from the collection that are definitely worth spending some time with, whether you’re a youngster or an old fart like me. We’re deliberately not including the new Digital Eclipse “Reimagined” games in this list because those are all very much worth playing — instead, we’re focusing exclusively on the retro titles that are available in the collection.

So let’s take a look!

Star Raiders

Top of the heap in Atari 50 has to be Star Raiders for Atari 5200, which is the original space sim and one of the finest games of all time. Without Star Raiders, we might not have had the modern space sim genre. While said genre may have fallen somewhat out of favour in more recent years, titles like No Man’s Sky and the like keep it alive — and each and every space sim from over the years owes a lot to Star Raiders.

Taking on the form of an action-strategy game, Star Raiders tasks you with protecting the galaxy and a series of starbases from invasion by the Zylons. You’ll need to pick and choose your targets carefully, manage your ship’s energy levels and engage in fierce real-time combat against your enemies.

Star Raiders originated on the Atari 8-bit line of computers, where it made use of a keyboard for many of its functions; the Atari 5200 ported these commands onto that system’s telephone-style keypad on its controller. For the Atari 50 version, Digital Eclipse has completely overhauled the control scheme to make it extremely friendly to a modern controller, as well as adding an optional “Enhanced” mode that adds a few extra visual bells and whistles to the experience. The core gameplay is kept unchanged, however!

Yoomp!

Yoomp!, a game written for the Atari 8-bit line of computers, is a fascinating inclusion in Atari 50, because it’s an official acknowledgement of the “homebrew” scene that cropped up long after these computers were relevant on the market. Written in 2007, Yoomp! is a graphical showcase of what the Atari 8-bit computers were really capable of — plus it’s a great game, to boot.

Travelling down a series of textured 3D tunnels as a bouncing ball, you need to carefully move yourself so that you don’t fall down holes and that you do score as many points as possible by landing on special tiles.

There’s a fun rhythmic element to Yoomp! in that the ball bounces in time with the dynamically remixing soundtrack in the background, and the levels are varied and challenging. It’s an extremely simple concept, but one that will keep you coming back. It also raises a rather good point: while a lot of games from back in the day are well-preserved at this point, what about the homebrew scene? Is anything being done to truly preserve that?

Turbo Sub

The poor old Atari Lynx hasn’t had a lot of love over the years. Ahead of its time in terms of tech on its original release, Atari themselves didn’t really seem to know what to do with it back when it was current — and since that time, the only rereleases of its games we’ve seen are on the Evercade and here in Atari 50.

Turbo Sub is a standout title in Atari 50 in that it’s the one Lynx title included that isn’t currently available on Evercade — plus it’s a pretty great game, too. Unfolding as a sort of first-person take on the Space Harrier formula, the game challenges you to shoot down airborne targets before diving beneath the waves, weaving through obstacles and collecting gems to upgrade your weapons.

It’s pure arcade-style fun and not particularly deep — but it is a great showcase of the Lynx’s powerful graphical capabilities, including hardware sprite scaling, and it’s an enjoyable score attack game worth spending a bit of time with.

I, Robot

Hailing from 1984, I, Robot is one of the first arcade games to make use of filled, colourful polygonal graphics. It’s an extremely simple concept — essentially a combination of Red Light, Green Light and Q*Bert — but it looks nice and plays well, plus it’s not a commonly seen game, making it another standout title from the Atari 50 collection.

In I, Robot your job is to deal with Big Brother’s Evil Eyes by painting all the red blocks blue. The twist is that you absolutely must not jump while the Evil Eye is looking at you, which adds a really fun element of tension to the mix — particularly on later stages when there are more enemies and obstacles to contend with.

I, Robot is also noteworthy in that it’s a rare example of an arcade game that included a “non-gaming” mode. In this case, it’s called Doodle City, and it allows you to just play with the game’s 3D objects and “paint” with them for three minutes. Oddly compelling if you just want something to relax with!

Miner 2049’er

Both the Atari 2600 and Atari 8-bit versions of Miner 2049’er are included in Atari 50. Don’t bother with the Atari 2600 version for anything other than curiosity as it’s a pale imitation; the Atari 8-bit version was what the game was originally developed for.

Miner 2049’er is a single-screen platformer in which you control the mountie Bounty Bob as he pursues the rogue Yukon Yohan through a series of radioactive mines. In order to do this, for some reason Bob needs to walk on every bit of platform in each level in order to “fill” it in — and, of course, there are radioactive mutants around the place, who can only be defeated by collecting objects and then knocking them out.

Essentially unfolding as an interesting blend of Donkey Kong and Pac-Man, Miner 2049’er is a classic early ’80s platformer, and one that fans of the aforementioned Donkey Kong will likely get along well with. The sequel Bounty Bob Strikes Back! is also included, but we’re recommending Miner 2049’er over that one as it’s a little more accessible and friendly to newcomers!

Tempest 2000

The Atari Jaguar is most definitely an acquired taste for many, and most of the Jaguar games included in Atari 50 probably won’t do a lot to change your mind about the console if you’re not already on board with the distinctive brand of video game it had to offer. Tempest 2000, however, is universally regarded as excellent, even by those who don’t have a lot of time for the Jaguar — and with good reason.

Developed by the fiercely independent and enormously creative industry veteran Jeff Minter, Tempest 2000 is a reimagining of Dave Theurer’s classic arcade game, adding a thumping techno soundtrack, psychedelic visuals and a more varied experience. With three ways to play, there’s plenty to keep you busy here — and you’ll need to put in some practice if you want to see the later stages.

At heart, Tempest 2000 is a simple score-attack arcade-style shoot ’em up, but its distinctive perspective and compelling presentation make it a title you can easily lose an hour or two to without realising. While the other Jaguar titles in Atari 50 are worth exploring with an open mind, Tempest 2000 is the one that can be safely recommended to anyone without caveats.

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is available now for PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox.

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